PEN America 2021 Freedom to Write Index: Myanmar Joins China and Saudi Arabia as World’s Top Jailers of Writers
During 2021, Myanmar accounted for the single-largest increase of writers and public intellectuals newly jailed for exercising free expression, due to the military junta’s crackdown on influential voices. More
PEN America Welcomes Chance to End Bogus Campaign Against Writer Orhan Pamuk
Today PEN America expressed relief that Turkey’s Ministry of Justice requested the end of legal proceedings against novelist and Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk. More
PEN America Demands Turkey Explain or Drop Charges Against Detained Musician
The arrest of Omar Souleyman may be the latest example of Turkey using charges of terrorism to silence artists. More
Reopening of Criminal Investigation Into Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk is Egregious Move to Silence Writers in Turkey
The reopening of a criminal investigation into Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk for writing in his latest novel Nights of Plague is an egregious attempt by Turkish authorities to silence… More
Turkey: Charges Against Kurdish PEN Member Must Be Dropped
PEN is deeply concerned for the well-being of Kurdish PEN member, writer and poet Meral Şimşek, who is facing up to 20 years on two separate charges. PEN believes… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Zülfü Livaneli
“I have no regrets about my work. I wouldn’t want to change a single word I’ve written. . . . I’ve been sentenced several times because of [my] poem,… More
Five Years Post-Coup Attempt, Turkey’s Writers Face Ever-Deepening Crackdown on Free Expression
In the five years since a coup attempt in Turkey, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has orchestrated a repressive, society-wide crackdown that has dramatically limited free expression… More
Cracking Down on Creative Voices: Turkey’s Silencing of Writers, Intellectuals, and Artists Five Years After the Failed Coup
PEN America outlines the legal mechanisms that the Turkish government has used to silence writers, activists, artists, academics, and creative professionals. More
Jamal Khashoggi | Status: Murdered | Saudi Arabia
Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian journalist who had been exiled in the U.S. since mid-2017, disappeared while visiting the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2, 2018; … More
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Bots appeared to target not just the most prominent feminist accounts, but also users with smaller followings who had engaged with Iranian feminists’ content by liking, posting, or sharing it. https://www.codastory.com/newsletters/iran-activists-instagram-protests/
We share @L4L_INT & others’ grave concerns for #XuZhiyong and #DingJiaxi’s human rights amid their arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, torture, and closed-door trials. China must immediately release Xu and Ding, who both face life in prison on sham “subversion” charges.
